MURPHY CITRUS NURSERY, INC.
PERRY, FLORIDA

A home-grown agriculture media company with Florida roots dating back to its original farmer investors, AgNet Media began as Florida’s first-ever commercial farm radio network in the mid-1980s. The network’s principal founders, and much of its original seed capital, came from vegetable farming families who were joined by other Florida agriculturists sharing a vision to fill a need for farm media that understood the very unique production region we’ve grown to know as the “deep Southeast.” VSCNews joins AgNet Media’s other properties to compliment the company’s emphasis on news and information that targets the nation’s largest and most critical fruit, vegetable and specialty crop production regions. In addition to the Southeast AgNet radio network covering Florida, Georgia and Alabama, AgNet Media now includes an established farm-radio network in California, where AgNet West went on air in 2012. These four states include more than 70 percent of the nation’s high-value fresh vegetable and specialty crop production. The farm radio concept began in Florida three decades ago. Gary Cooper obtained seed capital from about three dozen Florida farmers and ranchers willing to help establish the radio news service for the state’s farm producers. Florida was then and remains today a leading state in diversified agriculture production. Since then, the original concept has become a leading agricultural communications company serving Florida, Georgia, Alabama and California. Here’s a brief look at the company’s growth timeline: Murphy Citrus Nursery – Producing citrus trees far from commercial citrus areas Several years ago when citrus canker changed the way citrus nursery trees would have to be produced, nurseryman Billy Murphy heard the call and focused his family nursery operation toward citrus seedling production far outside of Florida’s traditional citrus belt. Click the play icon under the photo to the left to hear our short interview with Billy Murphy about his nursery operation. Murphy Citrus Nursery is isolated, tucked away on the east side of Perry about an hour south of Tallahassee. “That’s why we’re here,” says Murphy. “When lots of folks said it would be wise for citrus nurseries to set up outside of commercial citrus production areas we took them seriously and built this facility. We saw the opportunity to get into the citrus nursery business. We’re about 70 miles from any commercial citrus…surrounded by planted pine timber and very isolated in north Florida, outside of the industry.” Established soon after new citrus nursery regulations went into effect, Murphy Citrus Nursery sent its first crop of trees to some Indian River area growers that included among them one of Billy’s citrus growing cousins along Florida’s east coast. “Yeah, I’ve got a relative in Ft. Pierce who approached me about growing citrus in this area to get away from the disease. I told him we’d try it and we’ve grown from there…done real well with it.” Murphy Citrus Nursery is in full swing, and as is the case with other citrus nurseries these days Murphy says advance orders are the lifeblood of this segment of the industry. Citrus seedling orders placed spring/summer 2009 will be delivered spring of 2011. If you’re a citrus grower interested in learning more about Murphy Citrus Nursery in Perry, Florida, Billy Murphy wants to hear from you. We’re Here to Help. The page you are looking for is no longer here, or never existed in the first place (bummer). You can try searching for what you are looking for using the form below. If that still doesn't provide the results you are looking for, you can always start over from the home page.